Paul Hellyer, former Trudeau-era minister of national defence, is an interesting guy. He’s been a journalist, an author, a Liberal, a Progressive Conservative, founded his own party, tried to merge a bunch of little ones into one big party called The One Big Party … lots of diverse experiences there. Since his career in politics came to an end, he’s written some books and op-eds, including one in today’s Toronto Star, where he calls for the government to step in and block the sale of Saskatchewan’s Potash Corp to save Canadian jobs and tax revenues. Globalization has been bad for Canada, he argues, and Canadian jobs must come first.

This isn’t the first time Hellyer has stood up for the little guy and tried to prevent the politicians from making a silly mistake that could have unforeseeable consequences. Far from it, in fact. It wasn’t all that long ago that he was decrying George W. Bush’s NASA program proposals as being likely to start an intergalactic war with the aliens that have been visiting us for a while now.

“The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide.”

Well … okay, then. I guess Mr. Hellyer can rest easy now, since Obama scrapped the moon base program. Presumably, the risk of accidental war with Rigel IV has diminished accordingly.

When it comes to space, Hellyer’s sort of an all-around optimist. Preventing a Gulf of Tonkin near the asteroid belt is just the first phase in his plan for universal harmony. His next big hope is that the aliens will help us heal our ravaged environment by sharing their technology with us:

“Climate change is the No. 1 problem facing the world today. I’m not discouraging anyone from being green conscious, but I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation … that could be a way to save our planet.”

Fair point. Think a hybrid is good for the environment? Just wait until we have anti-matter-powered toasters and self-replicating bicycle lanes. We’ll really put the green in little green men.

Mr. Hellyer is of course welcome to his beliefs, and who knows, maybe there really is life out there. But before he spends too much more time and energy warning us about the dangers of globalization, he might want to reconsider. After all, what if the aliens decide that they’ll pass Earth by, out of fear that soon, we might be able to manufacture flying saucers here cheaper than they can at home? What would the Galactic Worker’s Federation have to say about that?

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.